Instructional leadership is widely recognized as important for school improvement and a significant tool for creating an effective teaching and learning environment. The British Council is committed to promoting and developing instructional leadership and is offering programmes to develop it in several African countries, including Tanzania. These…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a synthesis of literature reviews and stakeholder interviews conducted in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper…

This paper focuses on the experiences of six Chilean female headteachers. It addresses their career progress, and the facilitators and barriers, as well as the challenges they encountered in accessing and enacting school leadership. The six participants were drawn from all three of Chile's school types -- public, semi-private and private -- in…

The main purpose of this paper is to report research on the problems faced by novice principals in Iran. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 novice principals, all from elementary schools in Iran. The paper also identifies possible solutions to address the problems through three focus group interviews. The analysis followed the…

The political, economic and social challenges in Zimbabwe are well documented. Public schools have been damaged by a shortage of resources, and by a brain drain of teachers. This has led many parents to seek private education for their children but the country's economic problems mean that they often cannot afford to pay the fees. This demanding…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the Malaysian literature on three prominent leadership models (instructional, distributed and transformational), linked to a major educational reform initiative captured in the Ministry of Education's Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB). Design/methodology/approach: The…

Effective leadership and management are increasingly recognised as vital components of successful schooling. This paper examines how they are practiced in England, where there is a high degree of centralization, notably in respect of finance and staffing, but within a tightly constrained curriculum and inspection framework. The paper discusses…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine instructional leadership (IL) in outstanding secondary schools within a centralised (Greece) and a partially decentralised (England) education context. Design/methodology/approach: Since the purpose of the study is exploratory, the researchers adopt a qualitative approach, employing a series of four…

This paper examines middle leadership of the heads of English, maths and science departments in four international secondary schools in Malaysia. It focuses on their roles, responsibilities, role relationships, instructional engagement and leadership involvement within the theoretical framework of instructional, distributed and teacher leadership.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature on school leadership and management in South Africa, linked to the 20th anniversary of democratic government and integrated education. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors conducted a systematic review of all published work since 2007 with a more selective…

This paper examines the enactment of instructional leadership (IL) in high-performing secondary schools (HPSS), and the relationship between leadership and learning in raising student outcomes and encouraging teachers' professional learning in the highly centralised context of Greece. It reports part of a comparative research study focused on…

The Education Reform Act 1988 increased the scope of headteachers' work and led to an emphasis on "management", often interpreted as the implementation of government policies, checked through the Ofsted inspection regime. Following the election of a Labour government in 1997, the discourse changed to "leadership". Leadership…

There are concerns about the supply of head teachers in many countries. In England, this problem arises from demographic changes and the perceived difficulty of the job. The National College responded to this problem by initiating a Succession Planning programme. This article reports the main findings from the external evaluation of the programme…

The growth in the importance of school leadership has been accompanied by theory development, with new models emerging and established approaches being redefined and further developed. The purpose of this paper is to review current and recent writing on leadership models. The paper examines theoretical literature, to see how leadership is…

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes in two provinces of South Africa. It is increasingly recognised, internationally and in South Africa, that managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders.…